The Romance of Transgression in Canada

Queering Sexualities, Nations, Cinemas

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The rich and contradictory history of Canadian cinema and video - queer, queered, and queering.

From pornography to autobiography, from the Cold War to the sexual revolution, from rural roots and mythologies to the queer meccas of Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal, The Romance of Transgression in Canada is a history of sexual representation on the large and small screen in English Canada and Quebec.

Thomas Waugh identifies the queerness that has emerged at the centre of our national sex-obsessed cinema, filling a gap in the scholarly literature. In Part One he explores the explosive canon of artists such as Norman McLaren, Claude Jutra, Colin Campbell, Paul Wong, John Greyson, Patricia Rozema, Lea Pool, Bruce Labruce, Esther Valiquette, Marc Paradis, and Mirha-Soleil Ross. Part Two is an encyclopaedia of short essays covering 340 filmmakers, video artists, and institutions.

The Romance of Transgression in Canada is both a scholarly account and a celebration of Canadian LGBTQ films - moving images that have scandalized conservative politicans, but are the envy of queer cultural festivals around the world.

Thomas Waugh teaches film studies and queer studies at Concordia University in Montreal. He is the author of numerous books on documentary, gay male eroticism, and queer cinemas, including Hard to Imagine: Gay Male Eroticism in Photography and Film from their Beginnings to Stonewall.

Illustrations ixForeword xiiiAcknowledgments xvReader's Guide and Acronyms xviiPART ONE TEN EPISODES1 How to Queer Sexualities, Nations, and Cinemas, or The Romance{and Paradoxes) of Transgression in Canada 32 Monkey on the Back: Canadian Cinema, Conflicted Masculinities,and Queer Silences in Canada's Cold War 283 Sexual Revolution, Canadian Cinema, and Other Queer Paradoxes 484 Fairy Tales of Two Cities, or Queer Nation{s)/Urban Cinema{s) 765 Passages: Going to Town, Coming of Age 976 Forbidden Love, or Queering the National Film Board of Canada 1467 Boys and the Beast 1808 Sex, Money and Sobriety 2129 Anti-Retroviral: "A Test of Who We Are" 27710 Conclusion: Of Bodies, Shame, and Desire 327